SOUTHEAST ORLANDO

At roughly 100 square miles, the region generally referred to as southeast Orlando encompasses the University of Central Florida, Orlando International Airport and an array of master-planned communities, as well as stretches of pastureland, piney forests and wetlands abutting the Econlockhatchee River.

But the remaining rural areas are rapidly vanishing as the pace of growth accelerates. Today the southeast sector, which includes portions of the city of Orlando as well as unincorporated Orange County, is home to more than 200,000 people, with more arriving daily.

With this explosive growth, however, have come challenges. Chief among them: building enough roads, schools and healthcare facilities to keep pace. And although some developers are working with local governments to expand roads and construct new schools, there's also a movement afoot to form a new municipality in the county's unincorporated eastern region.

"The services we have are stretched beyond their limits. The east side [of Orange County] has 40 percent of the county's population, but we don't see 40 percent of county assets being used here," explains Scott Kidd, a small business consultant who's leading the charge to incorporate.

Until the late 1980s, southeast Orlando-which is defined as stretching from the University of Central Florida in the north to Orlando International Airport in the south and from Goldenrod Road in the west to the Econ River in the east-was virtually untouched by the growth brought to the western reaches of Orange County by Central Florida's ever-expanding tourism industry.

Instead, the area was home to family farms, the Econ River, CSX railroad tracks and the Orlando Utilities Commission's Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center. UCF was still known as a commuter college and more than a decade away from becoming one of Florida's largest public universities, while the area's other major economic engine, defense contracting, was just getting off the ground.

However, as land started to become scarce and pricey in other parts of Orlando and Orange County, developers and homebuilders turned their attention to southeast Orlando.

As a result, the southeast sector was the fastest growing part of Orange County between 1990 and 2000. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the area's population grew by more than 81 percent, to 164,600, during the decade. At 200,000 people and roughly 65,000 households, southeast Orlando today boasts a larger population than the city proper.

Much of the growth has come in the form of large, master-planned communities that contain a mixture of single-family and multifamily homes clustered around retail and commercial development.

Nestled amid a transportation network that includes the Beachline Expressway, the Central Florida GreeneWay and the East-West Expressway, southeast Orlando's growth should be no surprise.

"Location, location, location," chants Beat Kahli, developer of burgeoning Avalon Park. "This is the most ideal area. You can get almost anywhere in Central Florida-downtown Orlando, beaches, the attractions-in about 30 minutes."

The location factor is enhanced by the area's environmental and recreational offerings, beginning with the Econ River and the Hal Scott Regional Preserve and Park. Then there's the area's varied employment base, encompassing everything from higher education and defense contractors to the simulation industry and healthcare.

Top southeast Orlando employers include UCF, Central Florida Research Park, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp., Lockheed Martin, Florida Hospital East Orlando, Orlando International Airport and Waterford Lakes Town Center.

Meanwhile, plans to develop International Corporate Park by Fort Myers-based Grosse Pointe Development Company are in the hands of the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

Currently, three different plans are being considered for the 1,000-acre site, located just east of the airport. All would transform the original plans for ICP from 20 million square feet of industrial development to a mixed-use, new urban village complete with a second location for Central Florida Research Park.

Central Florida Research Park's current 1,027-acre campus, located adjacent to UCF, is home to 9,500 employees who work for companies such as the National Center for Simulation, the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Hewitt Associates, Adaptec, Boeing, the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation and the Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command.

Tavistock Group, the developer of upscale Lake Nona, has been particularly aggressive in promoting commercial and job growth in southeast Orlando.

Those efforts were bolstered in March, when the state university system's board of governors approved UCF's plans for a medical school. Now the university can break ground on its Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences, which will rise on land donated by Tavistock.

In addition, the Burnham Institute, a California-based medical research lab, has announced plans to locate a satellite facility at Lake Nona. The project is expected to generate hundreds of high-paying jobs.

Tying much of the growth together will be Innovation Way, a 5.5-mile stretch of roadway that will run from Avalon Park Boulevard and the UCF area to the Beachline and the entrance to ICP. The long-term vision is the creation of a high-tech corridor along which homes and businesses would cluster.

The first leg of Innovation Way is expected to be completed in 2008, although plans call for it to eventually be extended further southwest, past the Beachline, to the GreeneWay and Narcoossee Road, then straight into Orlando International Airport.